Glaciers and goats on the roof

Tekijä
Tuesday, Day 5

On Tuesday we managed to start our day surprisingly early. I woke up after 7 am while my boyfriend was already making coffee. Neither one of us are morning people at all, so this was particularly strange. The camping site was quiet and foggy and the air felt so cold that I had to bring my sleeping bag outside with me while we had breakfast. My boyfriend has been having a good laugh at me because I’m still sleeping with a million layers, and this means when I go to sleep you can’t see much more of me than my nose or my mouth under all the hats, sleeping masks and scarves. But I’m convinced that if I take off even one layer I will freeze.

Skaftafell & Svartifoss

We started to head out towards the Vatnajökull glacier area which I was very excited about. We didn’t really know what to expect of a glacier in the summertime, but turns out it’s still very much a glacier in August. This is Iceland. Summer can be as little as +8 degrees, maybe even less. We’ve been having a pretty good luck with weather but as we head more up north it gets a little bit chillier. 

We first went to see the Svartifoss (Black waterfall) in the Skaftafell area. This is in the “entrance” of Vatnajökull National Park. As we were driving we could see the glacier and it looks incredible to see that amount of ice covered ground when everywhere else it is green and summer looking. We had to hike about 1 km to the waterfall

which is actually not that big, but the basalt column formations are what really make this waterfall so special. It looks kind of like a church organ and was the inspiration for the famous Reykjavik church design also. 

Vatnajökull and glacier lagoons

After the waterfall we set our GPS a.k.a. google map towards two glacier lagoons in the area, Fjallsarlon and Jökullsarlon. The first one was a slightly less popular one and the second one was the real deal. We were already amazed at the first one, but once we got to the second one we understood immediately what the fuss was about. Suddenly we felt like we were at Antarctica and the air felt colder and fresher. There were seals swimming in the water and the huge blocks of ice looked turquoise with the water. This was definitely one of my favourite places so far, there was just something in this area that makes you feel like you’re at the edge of another world. 


We also went to see the diamond beach, which is literally across the street from the other lagoon but the only thing that I remember from this place was a really heartbreaking site. There was a seal baby lying on the beach, and first I thought it was dead but once I got closer I saw that it was alive, and I wasn’t sure if it was resting or in fact dying. But as it didn’t move when I got closer I figured it must be dying. I yelled for my boyfriend and wondered if I could let someone know or call the animal rescue. I found a tour guide and asked about this and he said they don’t really do anything about this in Iceland because there are so many seals. It could be that the mother had died and the baby had been left alone or then it was injured and drifted on the beach. I don’t know what would have been the right option in this situation but I do know I felt terrible after we left from the place. I do understand that can happen in the nature but seeing it suffering and looking at me in the eyes made it very hard for me to walk away. 

Eastern fjords

We continued our trip towards a town called Höfn and stopped a few times to enjoy the amazing views on the Eastern side of Iceland. The weather was perfect and sunny and again I tried my best to keep my eyes on the road although it was hard. There weren’t any campsites nearby that took our camping card in the area, so we had to go to another one which we had to pay separately for. We found one at a farm by the name of Berunes. It was a farm house / hostel that also offered camping for travellers. We were both in desperate need of a good warm shower and this one had one, and we even decided to treat ourselves with a breakfast at the hostel. At this point, this was luxury. The views were great and the camping ground was very small and calm, with a kitchen also. I went straight to the shower to warm up, and immediately felt like a re-born person. We cooked our food indoors, which was also a luxury, and fell sleep early. 


Wednesday, Day 6

Again we managed to wake up earlier, probably because we were excited about having a real breakfast indoors at the hostel. We had seen before that they serve pancakes but to our huge disappointment, this was no longer the case. I felt betrayed. 

Fresh fish

After this we packed our gear and started to drive towards a town called Egilsstadir, mainly just to shop at my favourite Icelandic grocery store, Bonus. We got some more food and continued the trip. Next up was a small fishing town called Seydisfjordur. It was a very small place but had some beautiful and colourful wooden houses and reminded me of Norway somehow. We decided to try some fresh fish at a local restaurant since this was the place to do it. My boyfriend had some “grilled atlantic sea wolf” and I had cod. Both were amazing. And there was also a deal that we could get two main courses for the price of one, so we ended up paying about 13 euros per plate. Not bad in Iceland. 

Mountain roads

After driving for five days for hours per day and camping, plus not really having any days to rest, at this point I started to feel beyond tired. One thing also about driving in Iceland is that you really do have to pay attention all the time. There are sheep everywhere and sometimes on the road, and especially these last two days we have been driving on mountain roads which aren’t exactly straight or wide for that matter. I haven’t felt scared at all while driving here, but for someone who doesn’t normally drive everyday or even every month, it does take up a lot of energy. So, even though it wasn’t actually allowed because my boyfriend’s driver’s license has expired, I had to ask him to take over for the rest of the drive since my eyes didn’t really stay open anymore. 

We drove to a camping site in the middle of nowhere, since it was the only one nearby. The area was really beautiful and calm with dogs and a goat walking around. It’s Iceland’s highest farm at 487 meters which also offers accommodation including a campsite.
We also saw some arctic fox puppies playing around the main building. I was really surprised they came so close to people, but it was a lot of fun to watch them run around. Pretty soon we also saw that the goat we had just seen was up on the roof with two guys. Yup. No joke. I have no idea why but there it was, walking around like a dog following it’s owner. At this point we both looked at each other and one of us said “this country is just weird.” 

It really is.

 And that’s the beauty of it.












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